Read Online Redemption: Alchemy Series Book #4 by Donna Augustine - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Donna Augustine
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dead."
The words took all the life out of the room and instantly changed the mood. We both fell quiet and I digested the news. I watched the hurt flash in his eyes at having to speak about her. I could see the pain of her loss poke its head up at the mention and stab a fresh wound.
So many people were dead. I was all too familiar with how you could be walking along, managing to hold yourself together, until a simple memory caused you to seize in pain.
I wanted to act callously, as if I were immune to it, but I wasn't. Time made you better, but it never made you whole. Maybe if I hadn't just suffered my own loss it would be easier to shut down the empathy, but I was too raw myself. Cormac wasn't confirmed dead, but he might as well be. I hung my head as I tried to tamp down the compassion I couldn't seem to stop. So, instead of saying a lot of people are dead, as I probably should've, I said nothing.
"How many do you have with you?"
"I've got forty-eight now, but there might be more to follow." He looked around the room and then his gaze came back to mine, uncertainty there. "I told them I'd send word back if they were welcome."
"What do you have to offer?" Compassion or not, there could be no free rides, especially for a group such as this. I'd have a riot on my hands if I did.
"We're all ex-military and we didn't leave empty handed, either. We took a shit load of guns and ammo with us."
"We've got all the guns and ammo we need."
"Not this kind you don't." He smiled, knowing he had the ace in the hole.
When last we'd met, Crash's team had been in possession of ammo that Keepers, and rippers alike, were susceptible to. It was a game changer.
"How much?"
"Enough to clear out every ripper in Nevada about ten times over."
Now he had my true interest and I leaned forward.
"If this is true, why even bother with us? Why wouldn't you go stake out your own little piece of the wild west?"
"As peaceful as it is now, when it does get ugly, and we all know it will, I want to be standing next to the good guys."
I wasn't sure we were the good guys. Kaz ripping Rogo's head off didn't seem so good. There was nothing saintly about Colleen's fight with Evan, but I decided to let him think what he wanted. I needed those bullets.
"How did you get out? And what about the rest of them? How do I know they're going to be loyal and this isn't some sort of Trojan Horse? Are they all suddenly plagued by some new found moral compass?" I picked up a stray pencil that was lying on the table and tapped it, then twirled it in my hand while I waited.
"The senator hasn't been paying much attention since the truce , so getting out wasn't as hard as it might have been a few months ago."
"Everyone over there knows about the truce?" I feigned interest in my pencil baton act while he spoke.
"Not everyone. Just the upper tier, but they talk."
"You still didn't tell me why the rest of them want out."
He tilted his head down as if he didn't want to really speak aloud what he had to say next. "You know my daughter was the only thing keeping me there. I wasn't the only one whose family members could be counted among the changed .
"He uses them against us. Most of the people with me are good. They fought for their country out of loyalty and honor. Even the ones who don't have family didn't sign up with the senator because they thought he was evil. He told them you were the cause of the world's destruction. They believed him." He rolled his eyes, thinking to commiserate with me over the lies spread.
The pencil snapped in my hand. I took a deep breath before I continued, knowing it needed to be said.
"That's not all lies. I did have a hand in it."
He tapped his fingers on the table, needing a minute himself to formulate a response.
The drumming stopped. "It's true?"
I wanted to deny it, now that he was the one staring at me with condemnation. "The senator was the architect, but yes, I was directly involved. You could say I was the hammer he
The words took all the life out of the room and instantly changed the mood. We both fell quiet and I digested the news. I watched the hurt flash in his eyes at having to speak about her. I could see the pain of her loss poke its head up at the mention and stab a fresh wound.
So many people were dead. I was all too familiar with how you could be walking along, managing to hold yourself together, until a simple memory caused you to seize in pain.
I wanted to act callously, as if I were immune to it, but I wasn't. Time made you better, but it never made you whole. Maybe if I hadn't just suffered my own loss it would be easier to shut down the empathy, but I was too raw myself. Cormac wasn't confirmed dead, but he might as well be. I hung my head as I tried to tamp down the compassion I couldn't seem to stop. So, instead of saying a lot of people are dead, as I probably should've, I said nothing.
"How many do you have with you?"
"I've got forty-eight now, but there might be more to follow." He looked around the room and then his gaze came back to mine, uncertainty there. "I told them I'd send word back if they were welcome."
"What do you have to offer?" Compassion or not, there could be no free rides, especially for a group such as this. I'd have a riot on my hands if I did.
"We're all ex-military and we didn't leave empty handed, either. We took a shit load of guns and ammo with us."
"We've got all the guns and ammo we need."
"Not this kind you don't." He smiled, knowing he had the ace in the hole.
When last we'd met, Crash's team had been in possession of ammo that Keepers, and rippers alike, were susceptible to. It was a game changer.
"How much?"
"Enough to clear out every ripper in Nevada about ten times over."
Now he had my true interest and I leaned forward.
"If this is true, why even bother with us? Why wouldn't you go stake out your own little piece of the wild west?"
"As peaceful as it is now, when it does get ugly, and we all know it will, I want to be standing next to the good guys."
I wasn't sure we were the good guys. Kaz ripping Rogo's head off didn't seem so good. There was nothing saintly about Colleen's fight with Evan, but I decided to let him think what he wanted. I needed those bullets.
"How did you get out? And what about the rest of them? How do I know they're going to be loyal and this isn't some sort of Trojan Horse? Are they all suddenly plagued by some new found moral compass?" I picked up a stray pencil that was lying on the table and tapped it, then twirled it in my hand while I waited.
"The senator hasn't been paying much attention since the truce , so getting out wasn't as hard as it might have been a few months ago."
"Everyone over there knows about the truce?" I feigned interest in my pencil baton act while he spoke.
"Not everyone. Just the upper tier, but they talk."
"You still didn't tell me why the rest of them want out."
He tilted his head down as if he didn't want to really speak aloud what he had to say next. "You know my daughter was the only thing keeping me there. I wasn't the only one whose family members could be counted among the changed .
"He uses them against us. Most of the people with me are good. They fought for their country out of loyalty and honor. Even the ones who don't have family didn't sign up with the senator because they thought he was evil. He told them you were the cause of the world's destruction. They believed him." He rolled his eyes, thinking to commiserate with me over the lies spread.
The pencil snapped in my hand. I took a deep breath before I continued, knowing it needed to be said.
"That's not all lies. I did have a hand in it."
He tapped his fingers on the table, needing a minute himself to formulate a response.
The drumming stopped. "It's true?"
I wanted to deny it, now that he was the one staring at me with condemnation. "The senator was the architect, but yes, I was directly involved. You could say I was the hammer he
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